Parliament to take up Ordinances Replacement Bills in the second week of Budget Session

Parliament to take up Ordinances Replacement Bills in the second week of Budget Session

All such Bills to be taken up first in the Lok Sabha

Rajya Sabha Passes two Bills in the first week; Lok Sabha Adopts Motion of Thanks to President’s Address

Both the Houses of Parliament will take up the important legislative business of considering the Bills to replace the Ordinances promulgated during the inter-session period in the second week of the ongoing Budget session beginning Monday i.e March 2, 2015. Briefing media at Hyderabad today on the business for the second week, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu said that Bills to replace six Ordinances on different issues will be taken up first in the Lok Sabha. Business Advisory Committees of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have discussed the Legislative Business proposed by the Government for the second week of the Parliament session and alloted time for different Bills.

In the Lok Sabha two Bills for replacement of Ordinances viz., The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2015 and The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2014 have already been listed for consideration and passing on March 2, 2015. Statutory Resolutions disapproving the respective Ordinances will be also be taken up along with the Bills. Two other Ordinance Replacement Bills viz., The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2015 and The Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, 2015 have been listed for introduction on Monday while the Bill to replace the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Ordinance has been listed for introduction in the Lok Sabha on March 3, 2015. The sixth Ordinance related to amending the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 has been introduced in the lower house last week. The Government earlier withdrew the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2014 pending before Lok Sabha before introducing the new Bill to replace the related Ordinance.

The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2015 is listed for introduction in the Lok Sabha on Monday. The Government has also proposed consideration and passing the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Orders (Amendment) Bill, 2015 which has been passed by the Rajya Sabha last week. The Upper House also passed the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Amendment Bill, 2014, passed by the Lok Sabha during the last winter session with two amendments relating to substitution of two words.

Rajya Sabha will take up further discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address during the second week. This will be followed by Consideration and Passing of The Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2014 and The Regional Rural Banks (Amendment) Bill, 2014. The upper house is likely to take up two Ordinance Replacement Bills pertaining to Citizenship and Mines and Minerals, after they are passed by the Lok Sabha. The Governmnet has also proposed consideration and passing of Delhi High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2014.

The first week of Budget session that began with the President’s Address to the Members of both the Houses concluded with the presentation of the General Budget for 2015-16 by the Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitely on Saturday , the 28th February, 2015 and laying of the same on the Table of Rajya Sabha.

The inaugural week of Budget session began on a promising note with the Rajya Sabha passing two Bills on the first full working day on February 24, 2015. The highlight of the first week in the Lok Sabha has been the marathon 13 hour debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address and the reply of the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi before the Motion was adopted by the House.

Minister of Health & Family Welfare Shri J.P.Nadda made a suo-moto statement on Swine Flu in both the Houses in the first week.

Shri Venkaiah Naidu said that during the first week of the current session, the Government has moved motions for withdrawal of three Bills pending in the Rajya Sabha pertaining to allocation of coal mines through open bidding, introduction of e-rikshaws and hiking FDI in Insurance sector and the same have been put on hold further to some issues raised by the opposition members.

The Government is of the view that new laws by virtue of promulgation of three related Ordinances are in force rendering the pending Bills infructuous and it is with in its right to introduce new Bills in the Lok Sabha.

As per the provisions of the Constitution, all the six Ordinances have to be replaced by Acts of Parliament by April 5, 2015.

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Opening of Applications for Allotment of Schedule 1 Coal Mines

The Allotment Process for 43 coal mines to Government Companies started on February ,18,2015 with the release of Notice Inviting Applications ( NIA) in newspapers . As a part of the allotment process, online applications and offline supporting documents were opened here today in the presence of representatives of Applicants.

As a part of the Allotment Process , applicants submitted their online applications on MSTC portal created for the purpose. Applicants were also required to submit separately in a sealed envelope the power of attorney and the affidavit.

The online applications were decrypted and opened electronically in the presence of representatives of applicants. Entire process was displayed live on the screen . Subsequently, sealed envelopes containing power of attorney and the affidavit were also opened in the presence of applicants. These applications will now be evaluated by an evaluation committee.

Maximum number of applications (9) has been received for Gare Palma Sector II coal mine and only one application each was received in respect of 7 packages of 9 coal mines ( two packages of 2 coal mines each and five packages of single coal mine).